Dimension 4600 / HD 4350 AGP Issues

In order to switch from onboard video to a discrete card you must enter the bios and disable the onboard video and save the settings.

The BIOS does not have that option.  The only options are Onboard and Auto-detect as far as video settings.

Do you get video at startup that then disappears after the XP splash screen? I had that problem with my 2350 -- it turned out that XP thought I had a dual-monitor setup and treated the onboard video as the primary.

A 4350 AGP card likely requires an Auxillary Power connection to the card.

The standard Power supply on the 4600 does not have enough 12v power to run cards like that some times.

However Adding a new 550W or higher power supply will usually solve that issue.

Also AGP cards with newer Radeon HD series 2XXX, 3XXX, 4XXX cards require the .NET driver install from microsoft

as well as a Hotfix specifically for AGP on older machines.

An updated bios may also be required.

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/CatalystAGPHotfix.aspx

Hotfix for “No compatible hardware found” error when installing ATI Catalyst™ drivers for

ATI Radeon™ HD 4xxx, ATI Radeon HD 3xxx and ATI Radeon HD 2xxx series AGP products
   

    * Back

Last Updated
8/24/2010  
Article Number
31625

Issue Description:
A "No compatible hardware found" error message appears when attempting to install the

ATI Catalyst™ drivers directly from the AMD download home page for the:

    * ATI Radeon™ HD 4xxx series of AGP graphics cards
    * ATI Radeon™ HD 3xxx series of AGP graphics cards
    * ATI Radeon™ HD 2xxx series of AGP graphics cards

All published AMD drivers have passed Microsoft's WHQL certification tests. A WHQL driver for the above mentioned products is not currently available.

Recommendation:
A hotfix has been created to help resolve the following issues:

    * Problems with DirectX and ATI Radeon HD 4xxx, ATI Radeon HD 3xxx or ATI Radeon HD 2xxx series of AGP graphics cards.
    * "No compatible hardware found" error message when installing ATI Catalyst drivers directly from the AMD download home page

The stock power supply is not sufficient.

There may be some other issue as well but I don't have a 4600 anymore.

One reason for making the system dead is that it draws too much power.

You will need to get an ANTEC True powerII  550  or ANTEC True power TRio 650

Cheap supplies that cost $30 and claim to be 500w or more are junk and will fry everything.

I would suggest taking it to a shop that can test a bigger power supply and card so that you dont get home

to find that it just doesnt work.

Other Option would be to Get a newer Dell Like a GX620 and then you can get a 4650 PCIE card and

not require to buy a new power supply.   I suggest this because used GX620 TOWER systems are

available in my area for under $300.

When the new card is installed I get nothing from either video option.  I have tried disabling the onboard video controller through Device Manager then installing the AGP card.  I have tried the card in other machines and tried other cards in this machine.  I got a different HD 4650 card and it is doing the same thing.  I think it is something MoBo or driver related.  Just can't figure it out.  Thanks for the reply!

When the new card is installed I get nothing from either video option.  I have tried disabling the onboard video controller through Device Manager then installing the AGP card.  I have tried the card in other machines and tried other cards in this machine.  I got a different HD 4650 card and it is doing the same thing.  I think it is something MoBo or driver related.  Just can't figure it out.  Thanks for the reply!

If the card works in other AGP machines, then I suspect the problem is incompatibility with the mainboard and/or BIOS. If your 4600 doesn't have the latest BIOS, I suggest you update it.

The 4350 is one of the thriftiest GPUs available and draws only 19 watts at load, so I doubt it's a power supply issue.

I upgraded the BIOS to v12, and it's still a no go.  Any other thoughts?  I'm guessing I need to go back to the drawing board.

I upgraded the BIOS to v12, and it's still a no go.  Any other thoughts?  I'm guessing I need to go back to the drawing board.

I got a Sparkle PCI 8400GS to work with my 2350 ... if you just want resolutions for newer monitors, HD video playback support and HDCP compatibility, such a card is sufficient.

Biostar makes an upgrade mainboard with a PCIe-16x slot, but you'd need a new CPU cooler, video card and memory, and you'd have to change the connectors for the front panel switch and LEDs. (And forget about use of the front audio port and USB sockets.)

If you only want a newer GPU and gaming is not an issue, the Sparkle 8400GS PCI should work. I have one in my 2350 working quite nicely under Windows 7. If it will work with a 2350, it should work with the much newer 4600.

Powercolor has a 4350 PCI available, but I haven't tried it.

If both memory and video are being upgraded, a viable option is to replace the mainboard with something newer. As the 4600 is standard micro-ATX apart from the front audio port, any micro-ATX board should work.

Thanks.  I looked into a full MOBO replacement, but decided to go with RAM, PSU, and video for now.  These are my kids' 4600s and they'll be making a jump from local community college to another school next year which spells l-a-p-t-o-p-s fairly soon.  The choices for MOBOs and features now is huge.... SATA possibly being squeezed out by USB 3.... leap now or wait.... dunno.  So I thought just a parts upgrade for now.  And video is more complicated these days than I expected.  The 4350 looks like a good choice (and 3450, 4650...)... never heard of Powercolor.  Decisions, decisions....  I'll post whenever I have a successful upgrade so other 4600 owners will know another option.

Thanks again.

AGP cards and PC3200 memory are much more expensive than PCIe and DDR3 and the difference can pay for a new mainboard and CPU. Of course, if you've already bought the parts, it's a done deal.

I just read on another post:

"Started research online as to what could be the problem. We stumbled upon the review on amzon. It seems the old Intel 865G motherboard that is present in the Dell Dimension 4600 does not understand the new DDR3 cards (or DDR2). The next morning we called the technical support for HIS and they confirmed the same."

That other post was:

"I, on the other hand, found out specifically what the problem was from the HIS tech support. The tech guy said that this is a problem they are aware of and it is very common among the Radeon 4thousand series on motherboards that are 2 years or more older. The reason for this is that the mobo cannot recognize the DDR3 because the manufacturer did not anticipate this."

Does this sound familiar?

A reviewer on Newegg is giving a Sapphire 4650 five eggs for working well in a 4600. So, I'd discount this.